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Policing the Crisis: Histories of Sex Panics in the United States

Fall 2004

AC 19.05 Policing the Crisis: Histories of Sex Panics in the United States

The moral panic crystallises widespread fears and anxieties, and often deals with them not by seeking the real causes of the problems and conditions which they demonstrate but by displacing them on to ‘Folk Devils’ in an identified social group (often the ‘immoral’ or ‘degenerate’). Sexuality has had a peculiar centrality in such panics, and sexual ‘deviants’ have been omnipresent scapegoats.

— Jeffrey Weeks

His sexual life, for example, was entirely regulated by the two words sexcrime (sexual immorality) and goodsex (chastity). Sexcrime covered all sexual misdeeds whatever. It covered fornication, adultery, homosexuality and other perversions and in addition, normal intercourse practiced for its own sake. There was no need to enumerate them separately since they were all equally culpable and in principle, all punishable by death….He knew what was meant by goodsex – that is to say normal intercourse between man and wife for the sole purpose of begetting children and without physical pleasure on the part of the woman; all else was sexcrime. — George Orwell, 1984

If we do not know our own history, we are doomed to live it as though it were our private fate.

— Hanna Arendt

Gill Frank Gill_Frank@brown.edu

Meeting times: Monday and Wednesday: 8:30- 10 AM

Location: TBA

Office hours: Wednesday 10:15-11:30 a.m. or by appointment

Course Overview:

Why is it important for Americans to understand the history of sexuality and sex panics? At various times during the past 150 years, portions of United States society have been gripped by widespread panics about the sexuality, whether real or imagined, of some of its members. During these sex panics, a community understands itself to be in crisis and demands drastic intervention in the form of regulation and policing. Powerful fears of sexuality have led to violent interventions, restrictive laws, and other effects that have themselves played a key role in organizing American politics and social practices. Equally significant is the fact that the sex panic has enabled the ongoing definition of normal and abnormal sexualities.

But how did popular fears about adolescent masturbation mobilize large portions of the population to action? Why were prostitutes the source of social outrage and government intervention? What was so harmful about pornography? Why was it dangerous for children to know about sex? Why were teenagers sources of cultural anxiety? In short, why do certain groups get constructed as social problems and why?

As the questions above indicate, this course operates under the premise that sex panics, rather than being irrational and incoherent affairs, are historically intelligible, socially motivated and highly scripted. In this course, we will focus on two periods: the Victorian and post-WWII eras. In each period, we will pay particular attention to how sexual deviance and victimhood have been defined and experienced and how the changing notions of deviance and victimhood consistently have mobilized large portions of the population to sanction extreme actions, thus shaping what is socially permissible and impermissible. We will also see how sexuality has become linked to our identities and how sexuality has come to be a site of intense cultural struggles.

In covering these topics, we will explore the centrality of sexuality to American history as a whole. By examining the moral and sexual crises of the past, we will attempt to come to terms with present and future ‘crises’ around sexuality.

AIMS

This course has four specific aims:

· To introduce you to interdisciplinary approaches to studying sexual histories and cultures. How? By examining a range of relevant primary sources including films, medical documents and memoirs.

· To introduce you to key theoretical, historiographic and political issues surrounding the histories of sexuality and moral panics. How? By reading key debates, theories and positions in this field.

· To encourage you to think deeply, critically, and coherently about the central roles of sexuality have in shaping American culture, social identities and practices and laws. How? By having an ongoing discussion about how sexuality has transformed America in the past and in the present.

· To help you identify, analyse and respond to contemporary moral and sexual panics in a culturally sensitive, politically engaged and historically informed manner. How? Through class discussions, written assignments and course readings.

OBJECTIVES

On completion of this course, students should be able to:

· Demonstrate an understanding of the central tenets of social constructionism and how these apply to sexuality

· Understand and explain the centrality of the history of sexuality to U.S. political, social, and cultural institutions and histories

No perquisites are required to take this class. Class will be conducted as an ongoing discussion. Students are expected to carefully prepare for class and to attend and participate in seminar.

The class will have four assignments: Two short writing assignment, one analytical essay and one final exam. Each assignment is intended to demonstrate your ability to master key course concepts or analyze secondary sources in the context of the themes discussed in our readings and discussions.

The grading breaks down as follows:

· Gender Diary 10%

· Writing Assignment (2-3 pages): 15%

· Essay 1 (5 pages): 20%

· Take home exam (10 pages): 40%

· In class participation / attendance: 15%

Textbooks available for purchase at Brown Bookstore:

Stanley Cohen, Folk Devils and Moral Panics, 3rd Edition

Course kits are available for purchase at Allegra (Corner of Waterman and Thayer Street)

Unit 1: 19th Century Sex Panics

Week 1. Introductions

Wednesday September 8:

Introductions: What is a moral panic? What is the history of sexuality? What is a sex panic?

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